Another player's probe is in orbit around the star in one of my systems. I moved some ships to it (although they seem to take up a different position) and attempt to attack the probe. The feedback indicates an attack order has been given, but nothing happens.
What is the expected result here? Are you not able to attack ships that aren't orbiting a planet? If so, the feedback should be changed. If I am allowed to attack this probe, how come nothing is happening?
Thanks.
It's possible the probe was just passing through. The probe's image will remain stationary in the sector, but in essence it is moving through. I could be wrong though. And as far as the interface goes, can't say, as I've never attacked anything yet.
I find the system slugghish and wont listen always, I rebooted client to get my ships to listen, which they did.
After doing some more testing, I'm fairly convinced that it isn't possible to attack ships directly. I tried a number of times with the same result, a message indicating an attack is ordered but no battle.
I also had this bizarre interaction: I encountered a colony ship in orbit of a planet, I moved my fleet to intercept and attack the ship before it "deployed" on the planet (which already had an outpost on it). The result was the same as above, nothing happened. So instead, I attacked the outpost on the planet we were orbiting. When I did this, a battle started on the planet that I won without any directed combat taking place, and the player's colony ship simulaneously vanished from orbit.
This seems like a bug. At first I thought maybe the colony ship had landed before I attacked, and I was just seeing a "ghost" in orbit, but if that were the case, the planet presumably would have had some population and an actual battle would have taken place. This is, of course, assuming I'm understanding the combat tutorial correctly.
Can a dev clarify this? Thanks.
No, you don't directly attack ship. The client command merely specifies that you wish to attack Player X. The combat AI locates all ships that belong to X and attacks X with whatever ships you have there. That's how it's supposed to work, and sometimes it does. Currently there is an issue where the planet is not engaging and I am actively patching this as we speak to try and fix this.
Thanks for the clarification. Does that mean that the notion of specific battles is meaningless too then? If I have two fleets in two different locations that both happen to be in orbit with two different fleets that my opponent controls, I can't choose to only engage one of those locations? Or in other words, clicking the attack button will cause all of my ships anywhere in the galaxy to attack any of the opponents ships they see, regardless of the location that I clicked "attack" on?
What about the duration of battles? Do they always resolve immediately, or can they take some amount of time? The tutorial suggests you can "retreat" from a battle, but if they resolve instantaneously I don't see how that would be possible. Conversely, if they do take time but there is no battle feedback (is there supposed to be battle feedback?), how do you know when you should flee?
Thanks.
When you click the attack button it affects only the sector you are in. So if you have guys beside that playing in another sector they will not engage.
The exception is, if you change status to at war with someone if you are sitting beside each other when you make the change they want attack but if new ships from either side fly in, they will engage.
Battle lengths vary. Depends on how many ships are in the battle when it happens. If it's something like 2 probes battle will be pretty much instant. If it's a probe against a Planet Killer, once again it's instant.
Thanks again for the clarification.
Last two questions:
In the event that a battle takes a significant amount of time, do you get any feedback about the progress of the battle? And how would you retreat? Just tell your remaining ships to move away?
Can you confirm that you have to be in orbit of a planet to do battle? I have repeatedly failed to engage probes that are orbiting the stars in my systems. I move my ships to them, click attack, and nothing happens. The only time I've actually started a battle is by attacking a planet.
Yes and no... The client gets updates, and is aware of whips in the battle. At the moment though the combat engine is about 80% implemented. We just have to add the display portion. It will be in an update in the near future.Originally Posted by JetJaguar2000
No you can combat ships at the star. When a ship is moving across a map it briefly appears at the center of each sector, it isn't really there. It is a warp transit anomaly. In the future perhaps what we need to add is something that tells you the ship is just flying through, rather than actively watching you.
If the ship sits there for more than a few min (depending on ship type) and you still can't attack them, then I would say it's a glitch.
Wow, great questions and great answers. Everything is much clearer now. I do believe I read somewhere that battles are only fought in orbit.
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